______________________________________________________________________ The Internet Anti-Fascist: Tuesday, 12 October 1999 Vol. 3, Numbers 83 (#341) ______________________________________________________________________ ARCHIVES REVEAL U.S., BRITAIN KNEW ABOUT NAZI DEATH CAMP: REPORT AFP (no author) 2 Oct 99 LONDON -- Evidence unearthed from British archives shows that Britain and the United States knew of the existence of a Nazi death camp at Auschwitz up to 18 months earlier than previously believed, The Independent daily reported Saturday. The paper said the discovery will reopen debate about whether more could have been done to hinder Hitler's plan to exterminate Europe's Jews, including whether Auschwitz should have been bombed once its true purpose was known. Some experts estimate that tens of thousands of lives might have been saved had action been taken earlier. The daily said a newly uncovered 20-page document, found in Foreign Office archives by research student Barbara Rogers, shows the situation at Auschwitz was spelt out at a meeting between Jewish leaders and US President Franklin D Roosevelt at the White House on December 8, 1942. The information was also passed to the British government. Previously it was thought the gas chambers at Auschwitz in Poland came to light when a report compiled by two escapees was circulated in June 1944. Earlier this year, other research on the World War II era showed underground reports were sent to the Polish government-in-exile in London during 1943. The document opens with the statement that almost two million Jews had already been killed, the daily said. It goes on: "The five million Jews who may still be alive inside Nazi- occupied territory are threatened with total extermination under the terms of an official order by Hitler calling for the complete annihilation of the Jews by 31 December 1942." The daily said the findings would prompt the question; why was the information never disclosed and never acted upon? ------------------------------------------------------------------------- FALWELL, AGAIN by Henry Messer (Triangle Foundation) 14 Oct 99 The Rev. Jerry Falwell is not one to mince words when it comes to gay people. Writing to supporters recently, Falwell thundered, "[T]hese perverted homosexuals absolutely hate everything that you and I and most decent, God- fearing citizens stand for. Make no mistake. These deviants seek no less than total control and influence in society, politics, our schools and in our exercise of free speech and religious freedom…. If we do not act now, homosexuals will own America!" From: Church and State, October, 1999: THE RELIGIOUS RIGHT'S GAY AGENDA -------------------------------------------------------------------------- CONNED IN KOSOVO: A C.B.C. REPORTER'S DILEMMA Tom Regan (The Christian Science Monitor) 13 Sep 99 HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA -- When Nancy Durham first discovered that she had been lied to, her reaction was "the most incredible sinking feeling." Ms. Durham, a Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) television reporter, had returned to Kosovo in June of this year, to do a follow-up piece on an 18-year-old girl who had joined the Kosovo Liberation Army after her young sister had been killed by Serbs. The girl's story had been part of a larger piece that aired on the CBC in January, to much critical praise. Yet as Durham stood in the doorway of the family's home in Skenderaj, the sister who was supposed to have been killed was standing there, alive and well. Rather than trying to excuse or brush off the lie, or have the CBC do a simple correction, Durham decided to do a full story - not only about the girl who told it, but what it said about how news is reported from a war zone. The result is a 16-minute report: "The Truth About Rajmonda: A KLA Soldier Lies for the Cause." It's being hailed by many media observers in Canada as a breakthrough piece that should serve as a model for other news organizations. Durham's involvement with Rajmonda Rreci began in September 1998 while she was filming a piece on an Albanian doctor. Rajmonda, a patient, told Durham on camera that she was joining the KLA to avenge the death of her six-year old sister. Durham (who works as a one-woman reporting "team") returned in December 1998 and tracked down Ms. Rreci. During that interview, Rreci said that her sister was fortunate to die for Kosovo, and that she would do the same. Then in June, almost as soon as NATO-led peacekeeping troops went into the region, Durham went back. It was during this trip she learned that Rreci had lied. When confronted, she told Durham that she had actually thought her sister was dead, but wasn't sure, and that doctors in the hospital had encouraged her to tell the story because other girls had lost sisters to the Serbs. "My first thoughts were 'This is a disaster,' " says Durham. "I had this passion for the people in the story. I felt really depressed. If this happens to me, I thought, and I go back again, and again, and again, how many other journalists has this happened to?" Durham returned to her home in Oxford, England, and thought about what she wanted to do. And although some media critics have said that the CBC pushed her to go back to do the report, Durham says this is untrue. She says she needed to go back, find Rajmonda Rreci again, and this time tell the true story. It turned out that most of what the teenager had said wasn't true. She had actually been a member of the KLA before she went to the hospital and had known all along that her sister was alive. But Rreci continued to stress that other Kosovar girls had lost their sisters, and why shouldn't she do it for them? Ultimately, Rreci did admit that what she said was just KLA propaganda. For Steve Kimber, director of the school of journalism at the University of King's College in Halifax, Nova Scotia, what Durham and the CBC did was critical. "It's very important to make journalism more transparent to the public. Particularly with a story that deals with 'heartstrings' like this one. And if it's not true, to give it just as much time as the story you had broadcast earlier." John Allemang, media critic for the Toronto Globe and Mail, says that while he feels the CBC has "overreacted," he's proud of the broadcaster for airing Durham's report. "But the question is, are they applying it across the board? There are lots of other situations where we're aware that we're not being told the complete truth. Is the CBC going to now start going back to check on other stories? The truth is, that it's hard for the media to check up on these things." -------------------------------------------------------------------------- PUBLISHER'S ANNOUNCEMENT: THE ANARCHISTS IN THE SPANISH CIVIL WAR Much has been written about the Civil War in Spain. This is however, the first comprehensive analysis of the part played by the Anarchists both during the conflict and in their unique social and economic experiments behind the lines. On the emergence of new evidence, Professor Alexander has been able to cast fresh light into many areas, notably their defence of Madrid and also of life in the worker-controlled rural and urban collectives. Substantiated throughout and enlivened by interviews with surviving anarchists, this study certainly fills a gap in our limited understanding of one of the major events of the Twentieth Century. Vol. 1 1-85756-400-6 and Vol. 2 1-85756-412-X £16.95 each for paperback original * * * * * In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material is distributed without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this information for non-profit research and educational purposes only. ___________________________________________________________________ FASCISM: We have no ethical right to forgive, no historical right to forget. (No permission required for noncommercial reproduction) - - - - - back issues archived via: <ftp://ftp.nyct.net/pub/users/tallpaul/publish/tinaf/>